Reviews - Riverside Public Library

Booklist Reviews

CJ and his nana depart church and make it to the bus stop just in time to avoid an oncoming rain shower. They board the bus, and while CJ is full of questions and complaints (why don't they have a car? why must they make this trip every week? and so forth), Nana's resolute responses articulate the glories of their rich, vibrant life in the city, as presented by the bus' passengers and passages. A tattooed man checks his cell phone. An older woman keeps butterflies in a jar. A musician tunes and plays his guitar. At last the pair arrive at the titular destination and proceed to the soup kitchen where, upon recognizing friendly faces, CJ is glad they came to help. Robinson's bright, simple, multicultural figures, with their rounded heads, boxy bodies, and friendly expressions, contrast nicely with de la Peña's lyrical language, establishing a unique tone that reflects both CJ's wonder and his nana's wisdom. The celebratory warmth is irresistible, offering a picture of community that resonates with harmony and diversity. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

BookPage Reviews

Beauty in a bustling world

It's not often that you see class addressed in picture books in ways that are subtle and seamless, but Last Stop on Market Street, the affectionate story of a young boy and his grandmother, does just that.

Last Stop on Market Street spread 1

CJ walks with his nana under an umbrella after leaving church. "The outside smelled like freedom" to the boy, who must have felt squirmy in the pews. They head for a bus stop, and CJ wonders why they always have to catch the bus, especially when he sees his friend zip by in a car with his dad. "Nana, how come we don't got a car?" he asks. On the bus, he covets an older boy's digital music player and earbuds. He also wonders why he and his nana always have to go where they're going after church, a destination revealed at the book's close.

Last Stop on Market Street spread 2

His grandmother has a glass-half-full response for every query: Why, the bus breathes fire, and the bus driver always has a trick for CJ. There's a man with a guitar right across from them on the bus, so who needs tiny music devices when you have "the real live thing" right there? The bus trip reveals a community of intriguing characters, and their destination promises the most colorful personalities. CJ and Nana even talk to a blind man, who tells CJ he can see the world with his ears and nose and shows CJ how to "feel the magic of music" by closing his eyes and letting go. When CJ and his nana step off the bus, readers discover that they're heading to a soup kitchen. As they walk from the bus stop to the building, CJ wonders how Nana always witnesses beauty in surprising places.

Last Stop on Market Street spread 3

With his crisp, uncluttered illustrations, Christian Robinson—the perfect illustrator for this story—captures the exuberance and wonder inherent in Matt de la Peña's vivid, resonant text, giving abundant individuality to each community member we see. This ode to gratitude is 2015's first must-read picture book.

Julie Danielson features authors and illustrators at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, a children's literature blog.

This article was originally published in the January 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

CJ, a young black boy, has a flurry of questions for his grandmother one rainy day. "How come we always gotta go here after church?" "Here" is a soup kitchen, where they work every Sunday. Nana has bottomless look-on-the-sunny-side answers, but she isn't dispensing bromides; the exquisitely composed collage illustrations showing a glamour-free urban setting forbid a glib reading. A quietly remarkable book.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

CJ, a young black boy, has a flurry of questions for his grandmother one rainy day: "How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?" "How come we don't got a car?" "How come we always gotta go here after church?" Only at book's end do readers learn that "here" is a soup kitchen in a hardscrabble part of town ("How come it's always so dirty over here?") where CJ and Nana work every Sunday. Nana has a bottomless supply of look-on-the-sunny-side answers ("Sometimes when you're surrounded by dirt, CJ, you're a better witness for what's beautiful"), but she isn't dispensing bromides; the economical, exquisitely composed collage illustrations showing the pair in a glamour-free urban setting forbid a glib reading. CJ and Nana develop a fellowship with the bus driver, Mr. Dennis, and with the other passengers (a blind man and his dog; an old woman holding a jar of butterflies; a man playing the guitar), and it takes just a gentle nudge from Nana for CJ to unhesitatingly drop the coin Mr. Dennis gave him into the musician's hat. De la Pena and Robinson here are carrying on for Ezra Jack Keats in spirit and visual style. This quietly remarkable book will likely inspire questions of a sort less practical-minded than CJ's; it will also have some adult readers reaching for a tissue. nell bera Copyright 2014 Horn Book Magazine.

Kirkus Reviews

A young boy yearns for what he doesn't have, but his nana teaches him to find beauty in what he has and can give, as well as in the city where they live. CJ doesn't want to wait in the rain or take the bus or go places after church. But through Nana's playful imagination and gentle leadership, he begins to see each moment as an opportunity: Trees drink raindrops from straws; the bus breathes fire; and each person has a story to tell. On the bus, Nana inspires an impromptu concert, and CJ's lifted into a daydream of colors and light, moon and magic. Later, when walking past broken streetlamps on the way to the soup kitchen, CJ notices a rainbow and thinks of his nana's special gift to see "beautiful where he never even thought to look." Through de la Peña's brilliant text, readers can hear, feel and taste the city: its grit and beauty, its quiet moments of connectedness. Robinson's exceptional artwork works with it to ensure that readers will fully understand CJ's journey toward appreciation of the vibrant, fascinating fabric of the city. Loosely defined patterns and gestures offer an immediate and raw quality to the Sasek-like illustrations. Painted in a warm palette, this diverse urban neighborhood is imbued with interest and possibility. This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright Kirkus 2014 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Like still waters, de la Peña (A Nation's Hope) and Robinson's (Gaston) story runs deep. It finds beauty in unexpected places, explores the difference between what's fleeting and what lasts, acknowledges inequality, and testifies to the love shared by an African-American boy and his grandmother. On Sunday, CJ and Nana don't go home after church like everybody else. Instead, they wait for the Market Street bus. "How come we don't got a car?" CJ complains. Like many children his age, CJ is caught up in noticing what other people have and don't have; de la Peña handles these conversations with grace. "Boy, what do we need a car for?" she responds. "We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Dennis, who always has a trick for you." (The driver obliges by pulling a coin out of CJ's ear.) When CJ wishes for a fancy mobile music device like the one that two boys at the back of the bus share, Nana points out a passenger with a guitar. "You got the real live thing sitting across from you." The man begins to play, and CJ closes his eyes. "He was lost in the sound and the sound gave him the feeling of magic." When the song's over, the whole bus applauds, "even the boys in the back." Nana, readers begin to sense, brings people together wherever she goes. Robinson's paintings contribute to the story's embrace of simplicity. His folk-style figures come in a rainbow of shapes and sizes, his urban landscape accented with flying pigeons and the tracery of security gates and fire escapes. At last, CJ and Nana reach their destination—the neighborhood soup kitchen. Nana's ability to find "beautiful where he never even thought to look" begins to work on CJ as the two spot people they've come to know. "I'm glad we came," he tells her. Earlier, Nana says that life in the deteriorated neighborhood makes people "a better witness for what's beautiful." This story has the same effect. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Jan.)

School Library Connection

CJ and his Nana ride the bus on Market Street. CJ isn't too happy to be taking this trip, but Nana is friendly to everyone on the bus. This is a story about community as readers see everyone on the bus interact. Nana is taking CJ to the soup kitchen and by the end of the book CJ is glad he came. The final pages reinforce that theme of community. This story is full of figurative language and the art provides a distinct contemporary feel to support this urban story. Those who live in an urban setting will recognize the story's intent and for those who are more suburban or rural this element will promote another layer to a meaningful weekly event.

- Grades 2-5 - Lisa Hunt - Recommended

School Library Journal Reviews

K-Gr 2—After church on Sundays, CJ and his nana wait for the bus. It's a familiar routine, but this week CJ is feeling dissatisfied. As they travel to their destination, the boy asks a series of questions: "How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?" "Nana, how come we don't got a car?" "How come we always gotta go here after church?" CJ is envious of kids with cars, iPods, and more freedom than he has. With each question, Nana points out something for CJ to appreciate about his life: "Boy, what do we need a car for? We got a bus that breathes fire." These gentle admonishments are phrased as questions or observations rather than direct answers so that CJ is able to take ownership of his feelings. After they exit the bus, CJ wonders why this part of town is so run-down, prompting Nana to reply, "Sometimes when you're surrounded by dirt, CJ, you're a better witness for what's beautiful." The urban setting is truly reflective, showing people with different skin colors, body types, abilities, ages, and classes in a natural and authentic manner. Robinson's flat, blocky illustrations are simple and well composed, seemingly spare but peppered with tiny, interesting details. Ultimately, their destination is a soup kitchen, and CJ is glad to be there. This is an excellent book that highlights less popular topics such as urban life, volunteerism, and thankfulness, with people of color as the main characters. A lovely title.—Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN

School Library Journal Reviews

APPRECIATING DIVERSITY; PERSPECTIVE-TAKING; SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT